Z*Magazine: 15-Jun-87 #57
From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/16/93-10:20:07 AM Z
From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Z*Magazine: 15-Jun-87 #57
Date: Fri Jul 16 10:20:07 1993
_____________________________________
ZMAGAZINE JUNE 15, 1987
ISSUE 57
_____________________________________
PUBLISHER/EDITOR-----> RON KOVACS
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER--> KEN KIRCHNER
80 COLUMN EDITOR &
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER--> SUSAN PERRY
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAGAZINE OFFICIAL HEADQUARTERS
The Syndicate BBS (201) 968-8148
The Gateway BBS (609) 931-3014
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG INDEX 57
<1> PUBLISHERS PAGE
<2> ZMAG USER GROUP OF JUNE
<3> LETTER TO THE EDITOR
<4> ANTIC'S CES REPORT PART 1
<5> INTERVIEW PART II
Tom Harker of ICD
<6> ZMAG ATARI REPORT
<7> NEW PRODUCT NEWSWIRE
<8> HACKING THE JOYSTICK PORT
_____________________________________
Xx PUBLISHERS PAGE
With this issue we introduce to you
Susan Perry from the Gateway BBS.
Sue will be re-editting ZMAG issues
and formatting into true ascii 80
column format.
I have decided to make the Gateway
BBS an official ZMAG Headquarters
system for 80 column editions. So, if
you are interested in 80 column
editions, Please give the Gateway a
call at: (609) 931-3014
Starting July 1st, 1987 Zmag will
have an exclusive BBS. The Syndicate
BBS will be put to rest and the
ZMAGAZINE INFORMATION NETWORK will
take over. New format and new name,
and 70% text oriented system. You
will now find every issue, Chicago
issues, Upgrade information, OTHER
online magazines, documentation,
Technical Assistance, 12+ Message
bases, and more yet to be decided.
The number is (201) 968-8148.
Another Online magazine has hit the
BBS world. It is called GUM, more
details next week.
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG USER GROUP OF THE MONTH JUNE
.....Rhode Island Atari Computer
Enthusiasts RI ACE.....
_____________________________________
You can become a member of RI ACE by
sending a check or money order to:
RI ACE
c/o Steve Dunphy
192 Webster Ave.
Cranston, R.I.
The dues are $20.00 yearly. 24 hr BBS
# 401-521-4234 in Prov. R.I.
_____________________________________
Xx LETTER TO THE EDITOR
_____________________________________
Ron thanks for the review you
recently published in ZMAG covering
the Oasis BBS System. I felt the
over all review was very fair in
covering the Oasis BBS program.
The reason I am asking you to publish
this in your next issue of ZMAG is
because of a problem some may have
had with the review in finding out
what the number of the HELP BBS in
Wichita, Ks is because a couple of
characters were missing in the ZMAG I
downloaded from CompuServe.
The number to reach to find out more
information and ordering instructions
on the Oasis BBS System is:
HELP BBS
316-683-7514
3/12/2400 Baud
24 Hours
Ron thank you and your staff for
running what I consider one of the
top information services available to
the Atari family. I am sure we can
expect to see bigger and better
things from ZMAG in the future.
Leo Newman, Sysop
HELP BBS
Leo, I will take this space to thank
you for your letter. I apologize for
the error. However, I think the error
was only in the CompuServe edition
because I failed in locating it on
the other services. Since I uploaded
the issue to CIS, I am at fault,
Again, my aplogies and thanks for
your continued support of Zmag.
_____________________________________
Xx ANTIC'S CES REPORT PART ONE
_____________________________________
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1987
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
By:NAT FRIEDLAND, ANTIC EDITOR
* Atari's 8-bit computer line is far
from dead -- with a new double-speed,
double-density 5 1/4 inch disk drive
due this summer, as well as the long
awaited 1200 baud plug-in modem and
the 80-column box...plus the XE Game
System that comes with 64K, a
keyboard, a light gun and Flight
Simulator II.
* The ST has yet another new wave of
remarkable and mind boggling products
on the way. Within our first hour at
CES we saw a 4-megabyte memory board
that goes into any ST without
soldering, and the Hybrid Arts ADAP
Soundrack CD- quality stereo sampling
and editing system that competes with
the vastly more expensive Synclavier
and Fairlight in high-end MIDI.
And these are just quick first
impressions from the opening hours of
a Consumer Electronics Show that
supposedly was not going to produce
any major new Atari announcements...
So let's get right to the opening
round of news:
8-BIT UPDATE
We'll start with the good news for
8-bit users. The XF551 disk drive is
the big surprise. It's a compact 5
1/4 inch drive in XE gray, about 3/4
the size of the now discontinued 1050
drive and priced in about the same
$160 range as the 1050. The XF551 is
also claimed to be 2.9 times faster
than a 1050 and boasts true double
density -- as well as automatic
compatibility with every other
density format ever used for the
8-bit Atari. It seemed clear from
talking to a number of Atari sources
that a 3 1/2 inch disk drive for the
8-bit computers is now unlikely to be
produced.
The XF551 drive will have a new ADOS
operating system which is nearing
completion by OSS, the creators of
DOS 2 and DOS 2.5. Promised features
of ADOS include a tree structure
allowing directories and easy toggle
between menu or command operations.
According to Atari's Jose Lopes, the
key engineer/designer of the new XE
products described in this dispatch,
the first XF551 drives can be
expected to start trickling into the
stores by July. The same July arrival
date now holds true for the 80-column
XEP80 display box and the new 1200
baud SX212 modem. Valdes says both
products have been delayed by a wait
for delivery of main chips, but all
other components and packaging are
stockpiled in readiness for assembly
at Atari's Taiwan factory.
AtariWriter Plus 80 was operating on
the XEP80 in a razor-sharp 80-column
display at the Atari Booth. The SX212
modem will be bundled with a new
version of Keith Ledbetter's famed
Express software which the author is
scheduled to demonstrate later in the
show.
XE GAME SYSTEM
The first working pre-production
prototypes of the XE Game System were
on view atop the roof of Atari's
large booth structure, along with a
real Cessna airplane that Atari
somehow got into the new CES North
Hall. The Game System is essentially
a two-piece 65XE computer that costs
as much as a 130XE.
But instead of 128K memory, you get
a light-gun, a joystick and three
games -- Flight Simulator II on
cartridge, Missile Command in ROM and
a pistol game called Bug Hunt. At
least 18 arcade and disk best-sellers
are now promised for Atari cartridge
by Christmas, including 1 On 1, Gato,
Midnight Magic, Karateka, Choplifter
and Blue Max. Most titles are to
sell for $19.95 each.
Atari Software Director John Skruch
says the XE can get as much as 256K
on a bank-switching cartridge.
Flight Simulator II only required
128K. Two hard-hitting TV
commercials for the Game System were
on Display. The system is designed
to be sold in separate pieces
overseas. Eventually the light-gun
will be available in the USA as an
8-bit peripheral. An ST mouse will
work on the XE Game System in
trackball mode -- CONTROL-T.
ANOTHER ST BONANZA
This CES had another dazzling array
of ST computer products on display.
We'll be looking at a lot more of
them in our later reports. During
just our first hours around the
crowded Atari area, here's what we
found that seemed especially
impressive:
Micro D of Canada was showing a
prototype 2/4Mb memory upgrade board
that is supposed to install inside
any ST without soldering. The
Data-Free Board will sell for $159
without RAM chips. The 4-megabyte
upgrade requires 32 chips and the 2Mb
takes 16. The chips cost $30 each
from Micro D or you can shop for a
better price on your own.
Hybrid Arts, the king of Atari MIDI
developers, was showing their $1995
ADAP Soundrack digital sampling
system, which will be on sale in
July. ADAP offers the sound quality
of compact disks -- in true stereo if
you get a dual hardware setup. On a
stage in the Atari area, ADAP was in
action -- effortlessly pulling
selected portions off any tape and
manipulating the sound in real-time
with a simple visual interface.
Sounds could be played back in
reverse, cut and pasted, stretched,
faded and otherwise manipulated, as
fast as you could click a mouse.
Frank Foster of Hybrid Arts told
Antic that Tom Hudson is looking into
the ADAP math co-processor box for
speeding up certain math-intensive
operations of his graphics software
(DEGAS, CAD-3D) such as ray tracing.
Springboard was showing their little
-publicized ST conversion of
Certificate Maker at the Atari booth.
Shelbourne Software's 3D
Breakthrough, the first ST game using
the Stereotek 3D Glasses, was a
spectacular sight. You move through
an elaborate maze by shooting your
way through flashy barriers. The
disk will also include a non- 3D
version that doesn't require glasses.
Next week, Zmagazine will present
parts 2/3 of this report.
_____________________________________
Xx INTERVIEW WITH TOM HARKER OF ICD
(c)1987 HDUG Hard Disk Users Group
_____________________________________
PART 2:
Last week we began this series of
articles with this interview with
Tom Harker of ICD and Chuck Leazott
of the HDUG. Last week we covered
the discussion of software, HD
controllers.... This week we continue
with Part 2:
CL) Does ICD specialize or prefer any
particular brand name of Hard
Disk or controller?
TH) No, not really. We sell all new
equipment though, not used.
Whatever you request, we'll fix
up for you.
CL) Great! Do you have any HD
packages ready for the market?
TH) Sure, several.
CL) Whats the price range?
TH) Well, to start, a single 10 MEG
box....
CL) Box?
TH) Yes, Hard Drive, Power Supply,
case and controller. All prices
are current, but may fluctuate
later on. Anyway, a 10 MEG box is
$499.00, a 20 MEG box is $649.00,
2 10 MEGS (double case) runs
$695.00, and 2 20 MEGS (double
case) goes for $995.00. We also
have a 30 MEG box, which is
really not a sellable product
right now, for $849.00.
CL) Those all sound reasonable, but
now let's get to the MIO. I know
you don't like talking about
problems with ICD hardware, but
let's do it anyway, just for
grins. What, if any, problems
have you seen in the MIO board,
the R-Time 8 cartridge, the US
Doublers, and the PR: Connection?
TH) Well, the only problem with the
R-Time is the fact that the
battery only lasts 3-5 years.
The Doublers don't present any
problems, and as far as I know
there is only one piece of
software that they won't run, and
that's Atari's Planetarium. The
copy protection is strange, and
Atari is looking into the
difficulty as we speak.
The PR: Connection has had some
minor compatibility problems with
some printers and modems.
CL) How about the MIO?
TH) The worst problem with the MIO is
the actual assembly procedure.
The MIO is so complex, compact,
and densly built, that there's
all kinds of room for errors.
When we first started getting
them to folks, we had quite a
large turn-around rate. We would
ship it out, and it would be
returned because of a faulty
circuit. Basically, just getting
them set up and burned in takes
a lot of time.
CL) How does it look now? Are you
getting very many returns?
TH) No, actually the drop out rate
has gone down to about 5% or less
which is standard for complex
hardware products. Every day that
rate goes down. You have to
remember, when you come out with
a product like this one, it's
new, and there will always be
something a little strange. It's
hard to please everyone, but we
try.
CL) When is the next revision of the
MIO coming out, and what will be
revised?
TH) That should be within a month or
so for revision 2.0, amd we'll be
working on the printer buffer.
SynFile+ doesn't work properly
with it, so we've been working on
that.
CL) Ok, how about those folks that
have purchased the MIO already.
Will they be sent the revision at
no cost?
TH) We're not sure yet. SEND IN THOSE
SERVICE CARDS!!
CL) Does ICD sell modems? I heard
that you did.
TH) Yes, and I'm glad you brought
that up. Since this newsletter
is a new publication, we would
like to give your readers a deal.
We have a limited supply of
Smarteam 300/1200 baud modems
left. We are selling them for
$219.00, but we'll let your
readers get them for $189.95. In
fact, let's have a blow-out sale
here and let them go for $169.95.
However, this price is only good
for as long as we have them in
stock. They sell quite fast.
[ed. This offer is not valid as of
this writing. This offer was an
exclusive offer to the HDUG. We
print this for subject matter only.]
CL) Now that lot's of folks are
purchasing the Hard Disks, is
there a possibility of a special
Hard Disk version of Spartados
being written? I mean, there are
many folks who dream for a
directory structure that can hold
more than 127 files per
directory.
TH) No. I'm sure you're wanting the
extra-length directories for use
with BBS Express! Many people
have asked the same question and
we feel having more than 128
files in a directory really slows
things down, whether you use a
floppy, a Hard Drive, or even a
RAM disk. It's possible, but not
practical as the DOS really gets
bogged down in a search.
CL) WOuld you consider an upgrade to
Spartados in any way for the
Hard disk users?
TH) If there's a real special need
for something, we'll think about
it, but not at present.
CL) Is there a maximum logical limit,
in MEGAbytes, that the 8-bit
machine can run?
TH) Well, using a hard drive you can
have 16 MEG per logical drive,
and a single file 8 MEG in size.
Since Spartados, and some other
DOS's utilize eight drive
configurations rather than
Atari's 4 drive set-up, you can
have 8 drives, each with 16 MEG.
So, 8 x 16 MEG comes to 128 MEG
on a single 8 bit Atari. Of
course, this will devoid any use
of a floppy. You can still use
the MIO RAMdisk as a 256K or 1
MEG printer buffer.
CL) If I can't use the floppy, how
can I set up all 8 Hard disk
partitions? I mean, how do I get
all those files onto that 8th
partition?
TH) Simple. You fill up the first 7
partitions using the floppy as
usual, then, using the MIO, swap
one of the partitions (make one
invisible). Then you fill the 8th
up and get rid of the floppy as a
drive configured in the MIO.
CL) When will the 80 column MIO card
be done?
TH) Actually it's all finished. The
hardware is complete, and now
were working on getting the
software to work with it. Soon.
CL) Will both the Sparta-X cartridge
and the 80-column Board be
totally compatible with the
current versions of Spartados?
TH) Yes. The 80-column will require
some extra consideration, so
we'll be sending out a disk
version of SpartaDos 3.3a along
the the 80.
CL) Do you have any plans for a
back-up system in store for us
Hard Disk users?
TH) Yes. We're working on a piece of
software that will allow you to
back-up all the hard disk files
to floppy. Basically, it will
gather the files and copy them to
floppy, breaking files in between
so that you can swap disks.
CL) Would you consider a tape drive
back-up system?
TH) No.
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG ATARI REPORT
...Press Releases from CompuServe...
_____________________________________
ATARI ANNOUNCES 40 NEW GAMES AND
LICENSING AGREEMENTS WITH COMPUTER
GAME AND ARCADE COMPANIES
CHICAGO, May 30, 1987 -- Atari Corp.
will preview new video game
cartridges at the Summer CES being
held at McCormick Place this week.
Among the 40 new games announced are
16 games for the 2600, 10 games for
the 7800, and 14 game cartridges for
the new XE game system, said Mike
Katz, executive vice president for
marketing and entertainment
electronics.
The new titles for the 2600 include
boxing, baseball, football and
shooting games as well as
translations from arcade games.
Atari has licensed Cross Bow, a hit
coin-operated shooting game from
Exidy; the arcade classics Donkey
Kong and Donkey Kong, Jr. from
Nintendo; Mouse Trap and Venture from
Exidy; and Qbert from JVW.
In addition, new titles for the 2600
are being offered by Activision, Epyx
and Absolute Entertainment Inc.
Activision announced Kung Fu Master
and Commando; Epyx announced Summer
Games and Winter Games; and Absolute
Entertainment will be introducing
wrestling and skateboarding games.
Games for the 7800, released or about
to be released by Atari, include
Desert Falcon, Choplifter and
Karateka by Broderbund; Touchdown
Football, One-on-One Basketball and
Sky Fox by Electronic Arts; Summer
Games, Winter Games and Impossible
Mission by Epyx; and Hat Trick by
Bally Sente.
Atari's new XE video game system,
which can play games for the XE and
XL computers, has hundreds of games
that are playable on cartridge or
disk format. Atari is currently
converting some of the most popular
disk-based games to cartridge so they
can be played on the XE game system
without a disk drive. The XE game
system cartridge allows over 256
kilobytes of program to play on the
game machine. "This is twice as much
memory as offered by our
competitors," Katz noted.
Atari has licensed cartridge versions
of Hardball and Fight Night from
Accolade; Touchdown Football, One-on
-One Basketball and Archon from
Electronic Arts; Ballblazer and
Rescue From Fractalus from Lucas Film
Games; Lode Runner, Blue Max and
Midnight Magic from Broderbund; and
Crowsbow from Exidy.
Atari's own new cartridge games for
the XE game system will include Food
Fight, Battle Zone, Star Raiders II
and two new shooting games.
The top-selling game Flight Simulator
II, Missile Command and Blast 'Em, a
new shooting game, will be offered
free with the system.
Atari Corporation is a leading
manufacturer and marketer of personal
computers, video game systems, a
broad line of peripherals and a
growing library of computer and video
game software. Atari Corporation is
located at 1196 Borregas Ave.,
Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Telephone: (408)
745-2000. Atari's stock is listed on
the American Stock Exchange and
trades under the ticker symbol ATC.
THE ATARI PC: THE FIRST IBM PC-
COMPATIBLE WITH BUILT-IN EGA
The Atari PC is the first IBM PC
compatible with built-in EGA
(enhanced graphics adapter).
The new computer has more power and
features than the IBM PC, said Sam
Tramiel, president of Atari.
Designed around the Intel 8088 chip,
the switchable system performs at
either 4.77 or 8.0 megahertz and has
512 kilobytes of memory, expandable
on the motherboard to 640 kilobytes.
It is the first IBM PC-compatible
product that includes support for the
EGA graphics mode as a standard
feature. Other graphics modes
supported by the custom-designed
graphics chip are CGA, IBM monochrome
and the Hercules graphics card. The
Atari PC has built in a Centronics
parallel port for printers and an
RS232 serial port for modems and
serial printers.
It will be sold with a detachable
IBM-style keypad, a mouse and mouse
port and will be bundled with the GEM
desktop from Digital Research.
The Atari PC will be sold through
mass merchants and computer specialty
stores. The Atari PC system
including a computer, disk drive and
monochrome monitor is priced at $699.
The computer and disk drive will sell
for $499.
ATARI TO BEGIN SHIPMENTS OF NEW XE
GAME SYSTEM BUNDLED WITH THREE
POPULAR GAMES
Atari Corporation will include three
popular cartridge games at no
additional cost when it begins
shipping the new XE video game system
in July.
Games bundled with the XE game system
are the top-selling hit Flight
Simulator II, from SubLogic; the
Atari classic, Missile Command; and
Blast 'Em, a shooting game being
specially developed for the XE. The
new game system is being demonstrated
in Atari's booth (6540) at the Summer
Consumer Electronics Show starting
today at McCormick Place.
"The XE is the ultimate game system
for the serious game player," said
Michael Katz, executive vice
president for marketing and
entertainment electronics. "It has
more features and power than any
other game system, and we're
including $80 worth of free games
with every system. No other game
maker is offering anything close to
it."
The XE game system features a console
with 64 kilobytes of memory, an
attachable game-playing keyboard,
video gun, and a Joystick.
Its memory, equivalent to an 8-bit
computer, is the largest in any game
system. That gives it superior
graphics, dramatic animation and
realistic sound, and the power to run
advanced computer games, Katz noted.
The cartridge for the XE game system
can store over 256 Kilobytes of
program, which is twice as great as
any other comparable system, Katz
added. Atari is also selling a disk
drive for players who prefer desk-
based software.
The attachable keyboard and video gun
make it easy to play hundreds of
sophisticated games such as Flight
Simulator II, which requires keyboard
interaction. The target gun is
attached to the console to
electronically "shoot" at images on a
TV or monitor.
The XE can play more games than any
comparable system, and the library
grows steadily as Atari converts disk
games to cartridges, Katz said. The
XE game system can play games written
for the Atari XE and XL computer
systems.
The XE, which complements Atari's
popular 2600 and 7800 video game
systems, carries a suggested retail
price of around $150.
_____________________________________
Xx NEW PRODUCT NEWSWIRE
........New Epyx Products..........
........Internal ST Clock..........
_____________________________________
In an effort to reach a broader
market of computers and video game
systems, Epyx has released versions
of their popular 500XJ joystick for
the Apple II, the IBM PC, the Sega
Master System, and the Nintendo
Entertainment System.
All of the new units have the same
hand-held styling and features of the
original 500XJ (for the Atari and
Commodore computers). The only two
visual differences are (obviously)
the type of connector used and the
color of the box (C-64/Atari is red,
Apple/IBM is blue, Sega is yellow,
and Nintendo is green).
List price for the Atari/Commodore,
Sega, and Nintendo joysticks is
$19.95. The Apple/IBM controller
can be bought for $39.95.
Epyx has also gotten into the floppy
disk market by releasing its own line
of premium 5.25" and 3.5" computer
disks. The 5.25" disks (DSDD only)
are list priced at $9.95 for a pack
of 10 (also included are reenforced
hub rings, Tyvek sleeves, labels, and
write-protect tabs). The 3.5" disks
(also sold in packs of 10) run for
$24.95 (SSDD) and $29.95 (DSDD).
EPYX, INC.
1043 Kiel Court
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
TransTech Industries is offering a
$25 internal, ten-year real-time
clock for the Atari ST line. Sold as
a commodity component (the clock is
actually the Dallas Semiconductor
DS1216E, an industry-standard
component found in many clocks
today), the clock fits underneath a
ROM chip inside the 520ST/1040ST.
The clock is being sold under the
name of "SmartWatch". According to
TransTech, the user of the clock is
entirely responsible for all physical
damage to the SmartWatch or to the
computer during use (or during
installation). A fairly good
understanding of electronics is
necessary to install the clock, and
TransTech won't do it for you. Your
local Atari dealer will probably
install it for you for another $20.
Software is NOT packaged with the
SmartWatch. Instead, it is being
released as a public domain TD.ARC
file (available on BBS's, GEnie, and
CompuServe). This allows for easy
upgrades to the software and (they
hope) for a greater market range.
A special installation kit (the "EZ-
Kit") for the 1040ST can be bought
for another $15 and saves you the
trouble of having to cut a small
metal bracket. Special discounts
(5%-10%) are available if bought in
quantity.
TRANSTECH INDUSTRIES
P.O. Box 880668
10509 S.D. Mission Rd., Ste. T
San Diego, CA 92108
_____________________________________
Xx HACKING THE JOYSTICK PORT
.......By Chuck Grimsby.......
_____________________________________
As every Atari Basic programmer
knows, the joystick port can be used
to produce nine different actions or
commands (excluding the center or
'null' position), utilizing the
STICK(x) and STRIG(x) commands. The
numbers your programs look for are:
value stick posistion
----- ---------------
14 UP
13 DOWN
7 RIGHT
11 LEFT
6 UP RIGHT
5 DOWN RIGHT
9 DOWN LEFT
10 UP LEFT
15 CENTER (NULL)
0 FIRE, (USING STRIG(0)
1 NOT FIRE
You may have noticed that there are
some numbers missing from that list,
and from all lists that show you how
to use the STICK(x) command. Where
are the numbers 0-4, 8 and 12?
Well, actualy those numbers are there
and are readable, but you can't use a
normal joystick to produce them. You
either need a numeric keypad (like
the old Atari CX-85) or a special
'joystick' consisting of buttons in
place of a single stick.
I built myself a special joystick to
use as a non-moving mouse (my desk
space is VERY limited) and discovered
I had also created a joystick that
would produce those non-standard
numbers.
My brother has dubed this device a
'Dead Mouse' and it has proved to be
very handy. It also works great as a
very accurate joystick for
MicroPainter.
The new STICK(x) list using the Dead
Mouse looks like this:
VALUE BUTTON(S) PRESSED
----- -----------------
0 UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT
1 DOWN LEFT RIGHT
2 UP LEFT RIGHT
3 RIGHT LEFT
4 UP DOWN RIGHT
5 DOWN RIGHT
6 UP RIGHT
7 RIGHT
8 UP DOWN LEFT
9 DOWN LEFT
10 UP LEFT
11 LEFT
12 UP DOWN
13 DOWN
14 UP
15 NONE (NULL)
The numbers produced through the Dead
Mouse can also be used to simulate
the numeric keypad IF you have the
proper AUTORUN.SYS file AND press the
FIRE button with the other keys.
The following list shows the funtions
that the Dead Mouse key presses will
return. Remember to ALWAYS press the
FIRE button as well.
FUNCTION DEAD MOUSE KEYS
-------- ---------------
DELETE UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT
YES UP DOWN LEFT
NO UP DOWN RIGHT
- NONE
+ENTER UP
0 UP DOWN
1 DOWN LEFT
2 UP LEFT
3 LEFT
4 DOWN LEFT RIGHT
5 UP LEFT RIGHT
6 RIGHT LEFT
7 DOWN RIGHT
8 UP RIGHT
9 RIGHT
The construction of the Dead Mouse is
simple, due to the fact that every
joystick made actualy uses four
buttons on the inside activated by
moving the stick. All you need to
make the Dead Mouse are five
momentery contact buttons, a female
D9 conector, a six conductor cable,
and a project box.
You can save yourself some time and
trouble by using the cable from an
old broken joystick, or buying a
joystick extension cord and cutting
off one end instead of making a new
cable.
Start by drilling five holes for the
buttons in the lid of the project box
a little bit larger then the size of
the buttons, and one hole in the side
of the box for the cable to the
computer.
Next mount and secure the five
buttons in the holes and pass the
cable through the hole in the side of
the box. Make a knot in the cable on
the inside so the cable wont pull
out.
Now solder the wire from the cable to
the switches following the table
below. NOTE: Solder to ONLY ONE SIDE
OF THE BUTTON!!
u 1 2 3 4 5 u
\ O O O O O /
u\ O O O O/u
6 7 8 9
PIN # BUTTON
----- ------
2 RIGHT
3 LEFT
4 DOWN
5 UP
9 FIRE
Now solder pin #7 to the other side
of ALL the buttons. This is the
common or "ground" line.
Put the lid on your box, and your
Dead Mouse is ready to use.
From experience, the Dead Mouse is a
very poor joystick, Don't even bother
to try and use it for game playing.
It is ,however, a more profesional
looking device for use as a mouse
than a joystick, and a accurate
drawing tool for MicroPainter.
_____________________________________
ZMAGAZINE ISSUE #57 JUNE 15, 1987
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE (C)COPYRIGHT 1987
RON KOVACS/SYNDICATE SERVICES.
REPRINT PERMISSION GRANTED
_____________________________________
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